-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- New York 's Staten Island was broiling under a life-threatening heat wave and borough President James Molinaro was seriously concerned about the area 's Little League baseball players . It was last July 's Eastern heat wave and Consolidated Edison was responding to scattered power outages as electricity usage neared record highs .

So , authorities followed Molinaro 's suggestion to cancel that night 's Little League games , which were to be played under electricity-sucking stadium lights .

`` Number one , it was a danger to the children that were playing out there in that heat , and secondly it would save electricity that people would need for air conditioning in their homes , '' said Molinaro , who 'd been forced to sleep at his office that night because of a blackout in his own neighborhood .

Throughout New York City , about 52,000 of ConEd 's 3.2 million customers lost power during the heat wave . Triple-digit temperatures forced residents like 77 year-old Rui Zhi Chen , to seek shelter at one of the city 's 400 emergency cooling centers . `` It felt like an oven in my home and on the street , '' Chen said .

Should Americans view these kinds of scenarios as extraordinary circumstances -- or a warning sign of a darker future ?

Experts on the nation 's electricity system point to a frighteningly steep increase in non-disaster-related outages affecting at least 50,000 consumers .

During the past two decades , such blackouts have increased 124 percent -- up from 41 blackouts between 1991 and 1995 , to 92 between 2001 and 2005 , according to research at the University of Minnesota . In the most recently analyzed data available , utilities reported 36 such outages in 2006 alone .

`` It 's hard to imagine how anyone could believe that -- in the United States -- we should learn to cope with blackouts , '' said University of Minnesota Professor Massoud Amin , a leading expert on the U.S. electricity grid .

Amin supports construction of a nationwide `` smart grid '' that would avert blackouts and save billions of dollars in wasted electricity .

In a nutshell , a smart grid is an automated electricity system that improves the reliability , security and efficiency of electric power . It more easily connects with new energy sources , such as wind and solar , and is designed to charge electric vehicles and control home appliances via a so-called `` smart '' devices . Summer of '77

You might say Amin 's connection with electricity began in New York City with a bolt of lightning . In July 1977 , Amin was a 16-year-old high school student visiting from his native Iran when lightning triggered a 24-hour blackout that cut power to nine million .

As he and his father walked near their Midtown Manhattan hotel , they were shocked to see looters smash their way into an electronics store less than 20 yards down the street .

Amin recalls feeling violated by the ugly scene -- and wondering if the nation 's infrastructure was in danger of collapse . '' ... not just the electric grid that underpins our lives , '' he said , `` but also the human condition . ''

More than 30 years later , the United States is still `` operating the most advanced economy in the world with 1960s and 70s technology , '' said Amin . Failing to modernize the grid , he said , will threaten the U.S. position as an economic super power .

Millions remember the historic August 2003 blackout , when overgrown trees on powerlines triggered an outage that cascaded across an overloaded regional grid . An estimated 50 million people lost power in Canada and eight northeastern states . Smart grid technology , experts say , would have immediately detected the potential crisis , diverted power and likely saved $ 6 billion in estimated business losses .

By April of 2013 ConEd hopes to install a `` smart '' automated self-healing system aimed at preventing the burnout of large feeder cables during peak demand periods -- such as heat waves . The new technology would anticipate possible equipment failure in specific neighborhoods and reroute electricity to compensate . For example , a project to help Queens ' Flushing neighborhood will `` give us the capability to remotely control up to 26 underground switches , '' said Con Ed smart grid manager Thomas Magee .

Had systems like this been in place , said ConEd 's Aseem Kapur , it might have prevented or reduced New York 's scattered outages last July .

Who 's got the juice ? Some of the most reliable utilities are in the heartland states of Iowa , Minnesota , Missouri , the Dakotas , Nebraska and Kansas . In those states , the power is out an average of only 92 minutes per year , according to a 2008 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study . On the other end of the spectrum , utilities in New York Pennsylvania and New Jersey averaged 214 minutes of total interruptions each year . These figures do n't include power outages blamed on tornadoes or other disasters .

Map : How often do the lights go out where you live ?

But compare the U.S. data to Japan which averages only four minutes of total interrupted service each year . `` As you can see , we have a long way to go , '' said Andres Carvallo , who played a key role in planning the smart grid in Austin , Texas . Experts point to the northeastern and southeastern U.S. as regions where outages pose the most threat -- mainly due to aging wires , pole transformers and other lagging infrastructure .

`` They know where they have tight spots , '' said Mark Lauby , of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation , which enforces reliability standards . Without mentioning specific regions , Lauby said utilities are `` making sure the generation and the transmission are available to help support those consumers . ''

Building a national smart grid `` wo n't be cheap and it wont be easy , '' acknowledged Amin . Much of it could be completed as soon as 2030 at a cost of up to $ 1.5 trillion , according to the Department of Energy . It 's unclear who would foot the entire bill , but the Obama administration has committed about $ 4 billion in investment grants .

The ` Easy Button ' Carvallo jokes about the so-called `` Easy Button '' at Austin Energy . It 's not really a big red button on the wall , but it is a mechanism that allows an operator to control tens of thousands of home thermostats . `` Austin is two to three years ahead of everybody else , '' said Carvallo , now chief strategy officer for the smart grid software firm Grid Net .

He points to a volunteer program that offers free thermostats to customers who allow the utility to remotely control their air conditioners during specific months and hours . This way , thousands of power-gulping air conditioners can be cycled off for a short time when electricity was needed elsewhere . By summer 's end , Austin expects to begin enabling its 700,000 streetlights to be turned `` on and off with a flip of a switch , '' saving $ 340,000 in electricity each year , and eliminating 200 tons of carbon dioxide air pollution . Replacing old-style electric meters with `` smart meters '' is often described as the first step in creating a smart grid . All 400,000 of Austin 's meters are smart meters . Nationwide , 26 utilities in 15 states have installed some 16 million smart meters in homes and businesses .

Soon , when power goes out in a neighborhood with smart meters , utilities wo n't have to wait for customers to report outages -- the smart meters will alert utilities automatically . Utilities will then e-mail or text message each affected customer information about when the lights will be back on .

Critics question smart meter accuracy and whether the devices will really save energy in the long run . `` It feels a bit like the utilities are jumping the gun and they 're trying to put these meters in before the rest of the pieces of the so-called smart grid are in place and before we even know that the smart meters are going to have advantages commensurate with the cost , '' said electricity consumer advocate Mindy Spatt of The Utility Reform Network .

One advantage of smart grid technology may be jobs . High-tech manufacturers want to locate their factories in places where electricity is most reliable , said Carvallo . `` That 's where the manufacturing facilities move to . That 's where you get your high-paying jobs . ''

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Non-disaster U.S. power outages up 124 percent since early '90s

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U.S. electricity reliability low compared to some nations

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Experts : `` Smart grid '' would avert blackouts , save billions

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Austin `` Easy Button '' controls tens of thousands of Texas thermostats